From the report, prepared by David Evans and Associates and released Thursday:

In general, the survey results do not suggest a relationship between on-site parking and vehicle ownership. Survey responses indicate that residents at both types of buildings (those with on-site parking and those without on-site parking) have similar trends in motorized vehicle ownership.

Why no change in residents’ behavior? Maybe because there’sstill lots of room on the street to park your car for free nearby:

The on-street parking observations found that all eight project locations have peak period parking utilization below 85 percent of the existing capacity, which indicates that there is adequate parking within a two block walking distance of each project location. All locations have areas with high parking demand with one or more blocks at capacity during peak periods. Irvington Gardens is most utilized, but none of the project locations have a clear pattern of high on-street parking demand around the project buildings.

Parking also takes up valuable real estate, which adds to the rent the landlord must eventually charge per unit – meaning that if substantial parking were required, many new apartment projects wouldn’t be built, because they would be out of the local price range. In another component of the city’s study, staff calculated that on-site parking spaces would add $50 to $500 a month to the necessary rent for the average 550-square-foot unit in a new 50-apartment building, depending on the parking ratio required. (A ratio of one space for every four units adds $50 a month; a ratio of three spaces for every four units adds $500.)

They may give pause to people who oppose the city’s lack of a minimum parking requirement on transit corridors. If there’s no meaningful parking shortage from such developments, why are we talking about a change to parking policy?

They’ll give ammunition to people who are mostly interested in preventing redevelopment – the city’s pricing report shows that if you want to shut down construction, parking minimums are a great way to do it.